Officials from the Afghan Peace High Council are currently on a visit to Pakistan in order to push forward a reconciliation programme with armed Afghan groups and insurgents.
There was good news and bad news.
Officials from the Afghan Peace High Council are currently on a visit to Pakistan in order to push forward a reconciliation programme with armed Afghan groups and insurgents.
Associated Press has unexpectedly reported the formation of a new coalition of insurgents.
The news agency has quoted senior US military officials saying that insurgent groups are putting aside their previous conflicts and disputes.
US intelligence operatives have found the dead bodies of fighters belonging to the Haqqani, Taliban and Gulbudin Hekmatyar groups during military operations in the east of Afghanistan.
Their investigations have revealed that the groups had launched joint attacks on Afghan government and foreign troops in Afghanistan.
ISAF’s spokesperson for the east of Afghanistan, told the reporter: “They are getting together against our sweeping and united attacks.”
The Afghan delegation was touring Pakistan in order to increase the involvement of Pakistani officials in the peace and reconciliation process. The news of the regrouping of insurgent groups could seriously damage these efforts.
Former lecturer at the Spinghar University Dr. Rohullah Amin says: “Our first reaction … (insurgents are) reinforcing their defence power against NATO and Afghan security forces’ attacks. Undoubtedly we cannot turn a blind eye to the other external hands whose interests and profits are tied in insurgents’ presence in Afghanistan.”
ISI long hand
There is evidence that the Haqqani faction and other insurgents are trained and funded by Pakistan’s shady, Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).
However, the three above mentioned insurgent groups are ideologically quite apart. According to Amin, “the Taliban enjoy the deepest and closest relations with the Al-Qaeda network while the Hezb-e-Islami led by Hekmatyar looks more moderate (with Al-Qaeda) and the Haqqani group has very different policies and activities in comparison with the others.
“Therefore, moving forward the war against NATO and Afghan forces has been considered a serious reason for the creation of such a coalition.”
Was the emerging coalition intended to wreck Afghan plans to take the peace process forward? Pakistan was not very enthusiastic about reported attempts to open peace talks between Kabul and insurgents in “another country”.
Retired Afghan police officer Aqa Mohammad Logari believes Pakistani officials have weighed the pros and cons and proven their power to decide the war and peace balance in Afghanistan. “This coalition was dictated by ISI … and actually it warns if Pakistan does not play its role in peace talks, they can create many problems for the Afghan government.”
2011 is a crucial year for Afghanistan’s security forces who are gradually being handed over independent charge of internal security. The Afghan government will need to pass crucial tests on the military field. All reverses in the government’s peace and reconciliation efforts have to be avoided.
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